Feb. 13, 2003
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| TIPOFF: 1:06 p.m. CST. | ||||
| ARENA: Allen Fieldhouse (16,300). Opened in 1955. MU is 152-166 (.478) alltime on the road, including 8-14 (.364) at Kansas and 10-42 (.192) in Big 12 Conference road play. | ||||
| RADIO: KWWC-FM 98.5 (David Lile, play-by-play/Jessica Jenkins, color). Also available on the Internet at www.mutigers.com. | ||||
| TV: FOX Sports Net national telecast. Kevin Eschenfelder, play-by-play; Debbie Antonelli, color. Kurt Deichert, producer. | ||||
| COACHES: | ||||
| Missouri: Cindy Stein (Illinois '84), 79-61 at MU (5th season), 143-86 overall (8th season).
Kansas: Marian Washington (West Chester '70), 549-341 at KU and overall (30th season). |
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TIGERS, JAYHAWKS SHOWCASE BORDER WAR ON FOX
Missouri-Kansas: Not much more needs to be said. The Tigers and Jayhawks meet for the 61st time this Saturday, Feb. 15, at Allen Fieldhouse, and FOX Sports Net will be on hand to broadcast the game live to nearly 26 million cable subscribers.
? ? ? The Tigers are coming off their sixth win in eight games following their 19-point win over Iowa State to mark the first season sweep of the Cyclones in eight years.
? ? ? Kansas has lost its last three games - to conference leaders Texas Tech, Colorado and Texas - and will look to even its home record this season at 6-6.
HOOPS PORTION OF BORDER WAR SERIES STARTS SATURDAY
Saturday afternoon's game is the latest contest in which Missouri and Kansas will battle for points accumulating toward the goal of winning the Border War Series.
? ? ? It features a scoring system that awards points to each school based on the results of head-to-head competition in 17 different sports. The school that has accumulated the most points at the end of the year will be awarded the Traveling Border War Cup at the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission Banquet each June.
? ? ? Missouri currently leads the series, 11.5-2.5; Saturday's game is worth 1.5 points to the winner; another 1.5 points will go to the winner of the March 1 women's game in Columbia.
ABOUT KANSAS...
Head Coach Marian Washington, in her 30th year pacing the Jayhawk sidelines, will try on Saturday to become just the 17th coach in NCAA women's history to record 550 wins. She has amassed a 549-341 record in her coaching career, which has been spent in its entirety in Lawrence.
? ? ? The Jayhawks enter Saturday's contest in a ninth-place tie with Texas A&M in the Big 12 standings, although Kansas owns the head-to-head tiebreaker by virtue of its 64-57 win in College Station on Jan. 25.
? ? ? Kansas has been a streaky team all season long, as the Jayhawks have had neither winning or losing streaks as short as one game this season. KU is currently on a three-game losing skid.
? ? ? The Jayhawks are led by a quartet of underclass players who are all averaging between 8.6 and 11.1 points per game. Sophomore guard Aquanita Burras leads the way, followed by freshman forward Crystal Kemp (11.0), freshman center Tamara Ransburg (9.9) and freshman guard Erica Hallman.
KU SERIES...
Kansas leads the battle between the schools, 32-28, although the Tigers have swept the season series the last two seasons and have won five straight over their archrival.
? ? ? KU also leads the series in Lawrence by a 14-8 margin, yet the Tigers have also taken the last two there.
LAST TIME OUT: MU 70, IOWA STATE 57 Junior forward Evan Unrau scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Missouri women to a 70-57 win Wednesday night and a season sweep of Iowa State for the first time since 1995. Unrau's 26 are the most by a Tiger this season, one game after her 23 points at Nebraska was the same.
MAKING A CASE FOR MIZZOU
Folks may take a look at the Tigers' 12-9 overall record, or their 6-4 mark in Big 12 play, and write Mizzou off from NCAA Tournament consideration. Given where they stand at the moment - using the "If the Season Ended Today" clich? - those folks might be right.
? ? ? Yet take a closer look at the Tigers' Big 12 results, and you'll notice that of Mizzou's four losses, three have come against national top-11 heavyweights Texas, Texas Tech and Kansas State. The fourth loss, at Baylor, came on the road in the first Big 12 game of the season on Jan. 8.
? ? ? Missouri has won six of its last eight, and remains in a tie with Oklahoma for fifth place in the Big 12, just one game behind Colorado - a team the Tigers dismantled by 19 points on Feb. 2 in Columbia. Mizzou also controls its destiny against both teams in the race for the fourth and final first-round bye for the Big 12 Tournament, as they will play them back-to-back on the road - at CU next Saturday, and at OU the following Wednesday.
BARR CLIMBING CAREER CHARTS
Senior guard Kerensa Barr, who is expected to make the 86th start of her career on Saturday, became the 22nd member of Missouri's 1,000-point club after her 15-point performance against Oklahoma State on Jan. 25. She has played in each of Missouri's 110 games over her four-year career, just seven passed Tracy Ellis (1984-88) for 20th place on the Tiger scoring chart; she passed former teammate Amanda Lassiter (2000-01) two weeks ago against Kansas State.
? ? ? With her eight assists against Illinois on Dec. 21, Barr moved past Dee Dee Polk as Missouri's No. 2 all-time assist leader. She added five assists against No. 20 Texas on Jan. 11, making her the 10th player in Big 12 history to record 400 career assists. She is 32 away from breaking Amy Fordham's school record.
? ? ? With seven games guaranteed to remain on the Tigers' schedule, Barr needs to average roughly 4.6 assists per game to surpass Fordham's mark.
? ? ? Barr is already a member of MU's career top-5 lists in 3-point field goals made and attempted, as well as steals after passing Sandie Prophete (1986-89) with her 200th career pick Jan. 8 at Baylor. She's currently third on that list, just four steals from passing Carla Yancey (1988-91) for second on the list.
? ? ? Barr is just the fifth player in Big 12 history to record 400 assists and 200 steals in a career.
? ? ? Finally, Barr is currently percentage points ahead of Julie Helm as Mizzou's most accurate free-throw shooter in school history (80.1 percent). If she sinks 80 percent or more of her remaining free throws, Barr will finish as the record-holder.
UNRAU ... AND HOW!
That would likely be the reaction from Spanky, the chubby-cheeked member of the Little Rascals gang regarding the play of junior forward Evan Unrau. The honorable mention All-Big 12 member from 2001-02 has been racking up double-doubles left and right, yet it is her back-to-back season-high scoring totals - 23 points at Nebraska on Saturday, followed by 26 on Wednesday vs. Iowa State - that is taking center stage now. Both performances became the highest single-game scoring outputs of any Tiger this season.
? ? ? Unrau posted her seventh double-double of the season - and third straight - after her 20-point, 10-rebound effort against Oklahoma State on Jan. 28. It followed performances of 11 points and 12 rebounds against Nebraska and 21 points and 11 rebounds at Iowa State.
? ? ? Unrau's seven double-doubles are the fourth-highest total in the league, and her four double-doubles in conference play is just one behind Kendra Wecker.
? ? ? Unrau has led the Tigers in scoring 14 times this season. Her totals of 15.7 points and 8.0 rebounds both lead the team.
? ? ? She is ranked among the Big 12 leaders in five different categories: scoring (9th), rebounding (7th), field-goal percentage (13th, .486), offensive rebounds (4th, 3.19) and defensive rebounds (9th, 4.81).
ADD UNRAU - 1,000 POINTS?
With a solid stretch run, Unrau will join Barr as the most recent members of the 1,000-point club by the end of the season.
? ? ? Unrau is just 61 points from the plateau, which would make her the 23rd member of the group at Mizzou.
JAMES STRETCHES OUT
Junior forward Stretch James, who earned JUCO All-America honors at Tyler (Texas) JC before arriving in Columbia this fall, has adjusted well to the rigors of the Big 12.
? ? ? She recorded her first double-double of the season Feb. 2 in the Tigers' upset of Colorado, notching totals of 14 points and a Missouri career-high 11 rebounds.
? ? ? James has scored in double figures in six of the last eight games, and 10 overall this season. She recently had a streak of five straight such games.
? ? ? James tallied a Missouri career-high 18 points and added a season-best three assists in the game against Nebraska on Jan. 22; she added 15 points in the win over Oklahoma State the following Saturday, and had a team-high 16 at No. 8 Texas Tech on Jan. 28. Her double-figure streak started with a 10-point outing in the win at Iowa State on Jan. 19.
? ? ? In Big 12 Conference play, James is averaging 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, which are third and second, respectively, on the team. That follows her season totals (9.3 ppg / 4.9 rpg), which are both third on the squad.
GLANCES STOLEN
Senior guard Kerensa Barr had seven steals for the second time in three games on Dec. 11 at Northern Iowa; she now has a team-high 52 on the year. She also had seven picks against McNeese State on Dec. 6.
? ? ? Barr's 2.48 steals-per-game average is the second-highest total in the Big 12 Conference.
? ? ? For the season, Barr is averaging 11.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. Those totals rank her second, fourth, and first, respectively, on the team this year.
? ? ? Barr is ranked among the Big 12's leaders in seven different individual categories: scoring (20th), assists (5th, 5.19); free-throw percentage (6th, 83.1%); steals (2nd, 2.48); 3-point FG percentage (14th, 35.1%); 3-point FG per game (12th, 1.29); and assist-to-turnover ratio (9th, 1.3).
FISHER GOES DOUBLE-DIPPING
Junior F/C Melanie Fisher put together back-to-back excellent offensive games against Nebraska and Oklahoma State, making 10-of-11 shots in the two games on her way to scoring 10 and a career-high-tying 14 points, respectively.
? ? ? Those two games were her first in double figures since her previous season high of 13 vs. Bradley on Nov. 26.
? ? ? Against Nebraska, Fisher was 4-of-4 from the field and made both of her free throws to get the 10 points; she added six rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal. Against the Cowgirls, Fisher was 6-of-7 with six rebounds.
? ? ? For the season, Fisher is averaging 5.7 points (fifth on team) and 5.8 rebounds, which is second only to Evan Unrau. In addition, Fisher has led the team in steals six times this season. Her 32 are fourth on the team.
TIGERS HIGH ON LOZIER
Early in the season, some questioned the decision to start junior guard Tracy Lozier because of her perceived lack of offensive firepower. In addition to her defensive prowess, leadership, and steady, consistent play, Lozier found her shot in a big way on Dec. 11 at Northern Iowa, and has continued her offensive prowess since.
? ? ? Lozier was averaging under 5 points per game coming into the UNI game, yet she poured in a career-high 19 points in the Tigers' win, hitting six of her seven field-goal attempts and all five of her 3-point tries.
? ? ? Lozier has shown that that performance was no fluke, as she has scored in double figures in each of the last three games, and nine times overall
? ? ? For the season, Lozier is fourth on the squad with an 9.0 points-per-game average. She also is second on the team with 61 assists (2.9 apg) and third with 35 steals (1.7 spg).
? ? ? In conference games only, Lozier is second in the Big 12 with her 1.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Lozier is also ranked among the Big 12 leaders in conference-only games in 3-point FG percentage (8th, 39.6%); 3-pointers made per game (3rd, 1.90) and assists per game (11th, 3.30).